T
he Linksys MR9600 is a mid-sized
router in this test. Its footprint of
280 x 170mm is sizeable and it rises
to 163mm with its antennae extended, but
several other models are quite a bit wider or
taller still.
It has four antennae, as befits its 4x4
spatial streams for its 5GHz channel (2x2 for
the 2.4GHz channel), which rotate to sit flush
with the sides or stand proud. Given their slim
profile and the low-slung overall design of
the unit, the whole router looks and feels like
a home theatre device. You could conceivably
find this router a home in a cabinet below a
TV, rather than hidden away in a corner or
plonked on top of the cabinet, as would be
the only option for taller units.
An intriguing aspect of this router’s
design is its ventilation. Linksys has adorned
the whole top of the machine with a brick
wall-like pattern of holes that allow you
to peer directly at the circuitboard below.
LINKSYS
MR9600 /£200 inc VAT
SUPPLIER amazon.co.uk
Most routers
aren’t exactly
watertight, but
the extent to which
the components
are exposed – the
ventilation holes are quite large – is
surprising. It will get dusty easily, but then it
will also be easier to blow the dust away.
It’s the same on the underside, although
obviously dust and spillages aren’t quite such
a concern here. It’s reassuring at least to see
the numerous chunky heatsinks covering the
top of the circuitboard though. Clearly, the
hefty 1.8GHz, quad-core processor requires
some significant cooling.
Despite the width of the back of this router,
you still only get four Gigabit LAN ports,
alongside the Gigabit WAN port. You do,
however, get two USB 3 ports and Linksys
has thought to put the WPS button on the
right-hand side of the unit, rather than the
back, so it’s easy to reach.
Those USB ports support USB storage,
although they didn’t recognise our USB-
attached SATA SSD, but they don’t support
printers or any other functions. This lack
of other function support makes it an odd
choice to bother including two ports.
Fire up the MR9600 and log into its setup
screen and you’ll be immediately prompted
to download the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi app,
which you can use to set up this router and
the company’s other networking products.
Most notably, the app is useful for setting
up its Velop mesh network products, withwhich this router is also compatible – you can
just add Velop nodes later.
However, you can skip the app and jump
straight to the browser interface. Once
you’re there, you’re greeted with a smart
set of menus that include all the standard
features, such as guest access and device
prioritisation, but there’s nothing particularly
outstanding here.
Unfortunately, the same can be said
of this router’s Wi-Fi performance. In our
shortest-range test, its 5GHz band speed
was the slowest on test, and it was similarly
underwhelming at medium range. At longer
range, it didn’t fare quite so badly but it still
wasn’t great either. Meanwhile, the 2.4GHz
band was middling at shorter ranges and
wasn’t stable enough in our longest range
to test to allow us to obtain test results.Conclusion
With its extra LAN ports and USB ports,
the MR9600 makes for a good starting
point for a Velop-based mesh network,
if wired connections and storage sharing
are important to you. However, when set
against other standalone routers in its
price range, the MR9600 underdelivers
on Wi-Fi performance.VERDICT
Generally weaker Wi-Fi performance than
the competition and a high price puts this
router on the back foot.CHAINLINK FENCE
+^ Velop mesh
compatible
+^ Decent feature set
+^ Snazzy design
BARBED WIRE-^ Underwhelming
Wi-Fi performance
-^ Not overflowing
with features
DESIGN
16 / 20FEATURES
14 / 20OVERALL SCORE
68 %
PERFORMANCE
18 / 30VALUE
20 / 30SPEC
Weight 904g
Dimensions (mm) 280 x 170 x 60 /
163 (W x D x H) / with antennae
Ethernet 4 x Gigabit LAN,1 x Gigabit WAN
Wi-Fi Dual-band (AX600 ) 1,147 + 4,804Mb/sec
Spatial streams 5GHz 4x4, 2.4GHz 2x2
USB ports 2 x USB 3
Processor 1.8GHz quad-core
Memory 256MB flash, 512MB RAM
Extras Four adjustable antennae,
Velop mesh compatibility